


The Sunlight Thing

by orphan_account



Category: Sunshine - Robin McKinley
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-14
Updated: 2012-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-31 03:59:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/339649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post-book oneshot.  Written for Yuletide 2008.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sunlight Thing

"Come on," I said. "Come outside. You _said_ it didn't hurt. It's just pushing boundaries, you said. Well, today I want to push. Come on."

He was sitting on my bed, cross-legged, his elbows on his knees. After I'd spoken he waited a while without answering. Then, just: "Sunshine..."

"...Can kill you, I know. Easily. Just like you can kill me," I pointed out. "We'd be even, for once. Constantine. Come on."

With a sort of long-suffering sighing noise, Con put his hands in mine and let me drag him to the door and then out of it. His grip tightened for a moment and I felt literally dizzy with the idea that I had caused a vampire to feel fear.

We stood out on the grass, holding hands, and knew that all that kept him safe was my goodwill and vice versa. I wondered if he found the idea as sexy as I did.

The thought _Sunshine, you're a sicko_ didn't occur to me. That should have been a clue right there. But no, I went right ahead and kissed him and felt him kiss back, and had my hands on his neck while his wormed under my shirt for maximum skin contact-

And my alarm went off and woke me up.

Arrg!

My first thoughts were just simple complaining about how unfair it was to wake up just when the good part was starting. And then reality hit while I got dressed, and then the whole way to work I was telling myself that it was a sick, _sick_ thing to dream about. Uninformed thirteen-year-olds lusting after vampires was one thing, but I knew better. I'd _seen_ what they were and still...

Still my body wouldn't cooperate with my brain. I couldn't stop licking my lips and remembering the feel of Con's fangs against them.

I rolled up my sleeves and washed my hands and glared at the grey almost-dawn out the window. I would feel better when the sun came up, I figured - I always did.

I was just opening up a new bag of sugar with a knife (stupid, okay, but I couldn't find the scissors and was too grouchy to put in serious effort looking) when I noticed that my shadow on the floor had a companion. I gasped and turned and was face to face with-

" _Constantine_!" I nearly shrieked. My heart was pounding so hard I had to actually clutch at my chest, like an old lady, while I tried to calm down. "What in all holy hells are you doing? You- you _scared_ me!"

"I didn't mean to startle you," he said. "I only came because I felt that you have been thinking about me. I thought perhaps you wanted to see me?"

See? Well, that was one word for it... At the mere _thought_ of that dream I had to drop my eyes. Fortunately, when I did I happened to notice that my hand was dripping blood - apparently I had cut myself pretty bad when I jumped. I brought the bleeding finger to my mouth to suck on it. "Listen, you can't just sneak up on people like that."

"I was not sneaking. I have been here for quite some time."

What, just _watching_ me? No, that's not creepy. Not at all.

I didn't say anything though. He continued, perfectly calmly, "You seemed to be busy. I did not wish to interrupt your thoughts."

My finger didn't seem to want to stop bleeding. I spit into a napkin, making a face at the taste, and then noticed that Con was watching me a little oddly. (More oddly than usual, I mean. Turns out a vampire's stare is _always_ a little disconcerting, no matter how good a friend he's been to you or how many embarrassing dreams you have about him). I guess my behavior _would_ seem strange to a vampire though, wouldn't it?

Still, it was yuck - at least for me. I stopped tonguing the cut and held out my hand. "You want?"

He went very still for a moment, and was quiet for so long that I had time for a long cold shudder and a whole bunch of thoughts. Like: oh boy, I'm an idiot. I just invited a vampire to take my blood. That's like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger and thinking this time the gun would probably have had the courtesy not to load itself. I pulled my hand back - not like it was going to matter. "I just meant..."

"No, I do not want," Con said coolly.

"Oh-! Uh... okay." I washed my hands and hunted up some bandaids. By most people's reckoning I had just escaped death by the very narrowest of margins, but instead of feeling relieved I was somehow feeling _rejected_. I told myself to ignore the feeling. Instead I said: "Why - am I still poisonous? Or just a bad vintage in general?"

He came up close - too close - but he didn't touch me. I had the weird idea that he was compromising; that he'd wanted to put hands on my shoulders or something, but at the last minute figured that just looming over me was somehow _less_ imposing. "You and I have formed a personal relationship," he reminded. "I would even call you a friend - if there were such a thing as friendship between your kind and mine. It is therefore strange for me to remember that you are made of food. I prefer not to think about it."

Made of food?

For a minute I just stared, imagining myself as a giant gingerbread man, but then out of nowhere I thought: hmm, aren't there people sometimes who have food fetishes? Who fall in love with jars of peanut butter and have unhealthy relationships with warm loaves of bread? I thought I'd read that somewhere. Or maybe it was just my own perverted mind at work.

_Okay, that's enough._ I could feel myself blushing. I had to get him out of here before I embarrassed myself. "It's going to be light soon," I reminded him. _Don't think of his bizarre skin in the sun, or the power twining up through you when you touch him, or pushing boundaries, don't feel his hands-_

"Soon. But I have time." You'd think that for all their miraculous powers, vampires would know how to take a hint!

I still couldn't meet his eyes - not that that was a bad thing, considering he's... well, you know.

"There are safe hiding places here in the basement, if you need somewhere ..." Hello?! Earth to Sunshine! _What are you doing?_

He only shrugged. "Thank you, but I have my own resting place not far from here."

Resting place. I didn't like that - it sounded like he was dead.

Which, of course, he _was_. But on the other hand, if he could overlook my being _made of food,_ then maybe...

I told myself not to finish off that thought, and I didn't. Good for me! While I was busy patting my brain on the back, though, my mouth took matters into its own hands.

"Hey, remember when we did the sunlight thing?... I was just thinking: Did that really not hurt you - was it really okay?"

 

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The End!


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